#20: Don't stay silent

Happy Friday 🎉 If you’re new here, welcome to the best thing about your Fridays! That seat is yours if you arrive early enough.

A Snapchat influencer, who created an AI clone of herself and charged fans $1 per minute for the AI to be their virtual girlfriend, made $71,000 in the first week.
2 things: 1. Where has your morality gotten you? and 2. Horny men are the most bankable demographic in history.

🧹 Housekeeping…

1. If you’re new (or an OG), please fill out this short survey so I can learn more about you and make your experience here worthwhile

2. Get your brand in front of hundreds of people weekly

3. Someone forwarded this email to you? Subscribe here ❤️

4. Leave a review so I can show my mum I’m actually helping people and not wasting time not being a doctor

Okay, let’s get into it 🚀

💡 1 thing I've learned this week

A closed mouth is a closed destiny

The year is 2014.

Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy” has played on the radio for the fifth time before noon and a young Shem, down on his luck and amid a crisis of faith, is babysitting a 2-year-old and assembling pool tables to make ends meet.

But I got into one of the most prestigious universities in the world!

I didn’t have the money to pay for it, though.

I canvassed the internet for scholarships and grants. I even tried converting to another religion to be eligible for certain niche funding opportunities.

Nothing.

Tick tock. Tick tock.

Without scholarships, loans were my last option.

But to get a loan in America, I needed a co-signer.

My family was anxious. I was anxious.

My family called me frequently as though each call minted money for my cause.

Those phone calls meant the world to me.

On one of those calls, I spoke to my elder brother, Cyrus. Cyrus is an engineer in trade and temperament. He has the capacity for depth and empathy, but he likes solutions better.

“You’ve been in America for almost 5 years and you can’t find a single person to co-sign a loan for you? I find that hard to believe,” Cyrus asserted.

Truth is, I hadn’t considered asking anyone I knew.

I mean, where would I start?

“Hey, I know you’ve only known me for a few years and you probably have your own crippling debt to worry about, but could you please co-sign a loan of small small $60,000 for me? Kthanksbye”

I couldn’t do it. I wouldn’t do it.

But Cyrus pestered me like a loose pebble in your shoe:

“What about the doctor in Ohio? Ask him!”

Lacking alternatives, I acquiesced.

I typed the toughest email I’ve ever written and sent it to the Ohio doctor.

One day went by—no response.

“He must be busy,”

Two days—no response.

“I’m f*cked. I’ve ruined an important relationship. He must think I’m trying to take advantage. Sh*t!”

On the third day—a ding from my Nokia phone corrected my posture.

During those days I waited by the phone like we waited for texts from our crushes in the early 2000s when Mango gave us free texts in the evenings.

“Shem,
That must have been a difficult email to write…”

The Ohio doctor cut away the rigmarole of the US banking system and paid my tuition directly to the school.

A closed mouth is a closed destiny.

🔌 Shameless plug

Readers are saying TLDR Weekly is awash with wit and wonder. But don’t take my word for it, check it out for yourself ⤵️

🙏🏾 1 thing I'm grateful for

Prim Nyonyozi.

I like free things.

So it always takes me a while to pay for certain things, let alone an influencer.

But I took a chance and hired Prim to plug my other newsletter—TLDR Weekly.

In a couple of hours, TLDR Weekly’s subscribers increased by over 250%!

This is officially called The Prim effect! You heard it here first.

If you’re looking to get your product/message in front of a large bankable audience, give Prim all your money. She’s a marketing genius.

Also, hurry while we can still afford her.

❤️ Enjoying The Friday Fix? Share it with your friends!

🚀 Pro-tip

Never lose anything you find on the internet again in 3,2,1…

You read an article online and it changed your life. You want to save it for later. What do you do?

You read a line, or phrase that was *chef’s kiss*. You want to save it for later. What do you do?

Use a bookmark manager!

A bookmark manager is any software program or feature designed to store, organize, and display content from the web.

There are several good bookmark managers, but I curated the top 5 for you because I like you.

The ranking is based on how much you get for free:

🧩 Games

Brain teaser

Brought to you by Braingle.

One snowy night, Sherlock Holmes was in his house sitting by a fire. All of a sudden a snowball came crashing through his window, breaking it.
Holmes got up and looked out the window just in time to see three neighborhood kids who were brothers run around a corner. Their names were John Crimson, Mark Crimson, and Paul Crimson.
The next day Holmes got a note on his door that read "? Crimson. He broke your window."
Which of the three Crimson brothers should Sherlock Holmes question about the incident?

Answer below

🔥 What's hot

Latest video

This week’s latest video is a Gmail hack that will change your life.

Shem’s picks

🦖 See what your neighborhood looked like when dinosaurs lived there

✅ To be productive, sometimes what you don’t do can make all the difference

🐾 Where your fingerprints come from

❓Riddle answer

Answer: Mark Crimson

"?" = question MARK, so the note on the door reads "Question Mark Crimson. He broke your window."

Have a great weekend,

— Shem

💞 Reviews

🤝🏾 Let's connect

1. Say hi on Twitter or Instagram

2. Book a consultation 

3. Get your brand in front of hundreds of readers weekly

4. All my links

5. Got a question for me? Hit reply and ask. I read and answer everything